An attempt has been made through this study to estimate the quantitative and temporal variation of emission from a subtropical wetland of North India dominated by Scirpus littoralis. A wide variation in rate of emission was observed in an annual cycle with maximum rate reaching up to 129.82 19.08 mg m^-2 h^-1 during March to April and negative emission rates were observed in hot and dry summer months between May to July. This finding suggests that tropical wetlands act both as source and sink of emission depending upon the specific ecological and environmental conditions. Therefore, extrapolation of single value of rate of emission for the entire year is not correct in estimating total annual flux.